Category: Accessories

Could the post title be more articulate? Probably. But it describes exactly what I’ve been seeing lately − round things on walls. In big clustered collections. It all started a few weeks ago at the Antique and Garden Fair at Chicago Botanic Gardens. I saw this scattering of round things in The Golden Triangle’s booth:

They are wooden rosettes from Thailand. Some red, some ivory, all gilded with a touch of gold. It’s like a whole garden of these wooden blossoms is blown across the wall.

Then, while perusing Pinterest tonight, I see a similar cluster of round things on a wall:

They are patterned paper medallions from Better Homes & Gardens. You could do this with scrapbook paper! BHG describes how to make these step-by-step here.

Then, not even an hour later, I see fellow Paint+Pattern blogzine contributor Debbie Dion Hayes’ photos from the High Point Furniture Show on her blog, My Patch of Blue Sky. And what do I see? She shows round things on a wall!

Mirrored glass orbs! Although this makes me feel nervous just looking at it on a computer screen. With my penchant for breaking glass, paper round things would be much better on my home’s walls.

So once you see something for the third time in short order, it’s definitely a thing.

I decided to scroll through my “Collections” Board on Pinterest to see if there’s more examples:

Follow India pied-à-terre’s board Decor – Collections on Pinterest.

Sure enough. Yes.

These are ceiling medallions from home improvement store, painted and hung on a wall. From House & Home and  BHG:

A wall garden of exuberant ceramic flowers, shown at Elle Decor:

A wall installation of juju hats, via Kronbali where you can get these hats:

After those color bursts, I will leave you with a visual palate cleanser from Bloomingville before you go wherever you go next online!

They’re all the rage right now in boho chic fashion and home decor: tribal tassels from lands now known as Rajasthan, Punjab, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan … but the tribes that make and use these fringy textiles have been around longer than states and nations and cross many borders. Their traditions have lasted generations too, of draping their yurts, their clothing and their camels with colorful tassels and poms. You might find tassels clustered together in threes, as this was auspicious and protective.

Here are vibrant beaded Paktika Kuchi and Baluchi Afghan vintage tassels from Tribal Muse:

From northern Afghanistan, here are Turkoman tribal tassels from Tribal Souk that are used to decorate animals, people, cars, trucks, and motor bikes. These bright colors are now popular in the region:

Those tassels are 15 inches long! You can’t miss them.

If you wonder how these can be worn with more western styles, Vivienne Tam showed us how back in 2011, when obviously I wasn’t quite paying attention yet:

If you like this look either for fashion or home decor and want sources to find such treasures, let’s look some more …

The rich jewel colors of these Uzbek tassels – gorgeous.  From Dancing Tribe Etsy shop:

From Luxethink on Etsy, these vintage Turkoman tassels have a sophisticated color combo:

These fringy camel decorations from Rajasthan are so fun! Brought to you by Woman Shops World on Etsy:

Anthropologie is hanging tassels on handbags, such as this Samirah Tassel Bag which is now sold out (so, get your tassels and make your own handbag tassel!):

Tribal tassels can also be used on pillows, such as this pillow from One Kings Lane with Gosha tribal tassels:

I hope this brightened your day with the possibilities of how to add a bohemian touch with tassels!

Well me neither. Until I saw this at Second Shout Out:

And now, a five foot tall birdcage is very much needed.

It needs to hang from the highest ceiling in our house. Because our house is lacking theatre and drama.

I wouldn’t put an actual bird in it. Maybe the pretty gifts that birds leave for us, like a fistful of peacock feathers. I’d tuck the feathers into a pile of teal blue glass holiday baubles filling the bottom of the birdcage.

Imagine what else you could do with this thing. For Halloween, fill it with grinning glittery skulls. Chocolates for Valentine’s Day. You could have a lot of fun with this.

What crazy thing have you wanted to bring home? Or actually brought home? If you want to read a funny story about the craziest of crazy things brought home, you MUST read Victoria Elizabeth Barnes’ story about the day she brought home a mirror with a whole kingdom on it. Yes, you read that right. They say it’s twelve feet tall (but it looks more like seven). Believe it or not, its size is not the most remarkable thing. You have to check out Victoria’s story!

Today there’s a big festival in India – Diwali. It’s the Festival of Lights, and where my husband is from in Tamil Nadu, they honor Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth. I’m in India for Diwali this year! Today we’re shopping for sarees, and making and eating sweets. These are things you do to celebrate Diwali. You also set off deafening fireworks. Even at 2 a.m. We aren’t, but others are. Ahem.

One traditional decoration on Diwali is to set up rows of lights. And I have an obsession with lining up rows of things perfectly. It’s very strange. Like meditative. So no wonder Diwali is a favorite festival!

For Diwali in India, people will decorate their homes with diyas, which are little clay vessels that hold oil and a wick. You line them up or arrange them in a pretty circle, and light the wicks. Here’s an example from Wikipedia:

You can also use candleholders inspired by diyas, and burn small candles like tealights or votives in them.

Today I share a few Diwali candleholders. And even if you don’t celebrate Diwali, these are so pretty, don’t overlook them – I use the festive red, green and gold Diwali candleholders for Christmas decorating.

Here’s a lotus tealight holder from Collective Craft in India:

Right now you can order a variety of unique Indian style candleholders from Jaypore (yesterday I wore a block print tussar silk scarf from Jaypore – they have beautiful goods!). This one is stone with copper:

Here is a sterling silver and glass candle lamp from Jaypore:

The crackle effect in the glass casts interesting dancing shadows around the lantern.

This handcrafted brass lantern has a small oil wick lamp suspended by a parrot, also from Jaypore:

Today while wandering the shopping markets in the T Nagar neighborhood of Chennai, we found a guy with plain red clay and glazed clay diyas in a cart on the street:

We picked up a handful of nine glazed diyas for a grand total of 50 cents!